Sixteen-year old Joshua Meier is the CEO of Provita, a biotech company . Everyone on the 15-plus-person Provita team, from research and development workers to finance officers, is in high school.

The company’s first product, Coagula, aims to decrease the number of injections that patients with hemophilia need.

More recently, Provita has started working on the "flying syringe," genetically engineering mosquitoes so that they can produce and deliver a vaccine (via their saliva) for West Nile Virus.

Provita emerged when some of the science-focused kids at New Jersey’s Bergen County Academies decided to collaborate with the business-minded students on a business plan competition for their research.

The Provita team certainly has enough equipment at its disposal, including a stem cell lab and a microbiology lab at the school.

This Biotechnology Company Run By High Schoolers Is Developing A "Flying Syringe"

Provita, a company staffed entirely by kids under 18, is working on a project to use mosquitoes to help carry important vaccines.

Editor’s Note

Maria Dvorozniak, the Project Coordinator at Bergen County Technical Schools tells that in fact "No grant proposal has ever been submitted."

Joshua Meier, CEO of biotechnology company Provita Pharmaceuticals, spends about 20 hours a week on research projects in the various labs at his disposal. In January, the company gave a presentation to the FDA on its work with the flying syringe, a tool that uses mosquitoes as a vector to deliver vaccines to those who need them. Provita has also submitted a grant idea to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But you might not recognize Meier as a CEO if you saw him walking down the street—he’s 16. In fact, everyone on the 15-plus person Provita team, from research and development workers to finance officers, is in high school.

Provita was founded in 2008, before Meier—a junior and a finalist in the 2012 Google Science Fair—entered high school at the Bergen County Academies, a group of seven magnet high school programs that each hone in on different subjects, including a program focused on science and technology (where Meier is a student), a business and finance program, and a medical science and technology program. Provita emerged when some of the science-focused kids decided to collaborate with the business-minded students on a business plan competition for their research.

The company’s first product, Coagula, aims to decrease the number of injections that patients with hemophilia and von Willebrand disease have to endure. "Hemopheliacs have uncontrolled bleeding, and they to have to take coagulants to make their blood thicker. The problem with treatment is that they have to take it several time a week, and there are issues of infection and having transfusions all the time," explains Meier. "We came up with new method, so instead of taking treatment a few times a week, you do it once every few months. We’re still working on that."

The Provita team certainly has enough equipment at its disposal, including a stem cell lab and a microbiology lab that the school provides for all students. All of the company’s work is funded by the Bergen County Technical Schools district (the district also funds other student research projects). Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City has even indicated interest in helping with future development.

Meier in the school’s stem cell lab.

More recently, Provita has started working on the flying syringe. That project is still in the very early stages. "We can’t really culture mosquitoes in the lab at our high school because that’s dangerous, but we a have research advisor and ideas planned out, and the next step is making a partnership, contacting other places that do have animal facilities," says Meier.

The first goal: to genetically engineer mosquitoes so that they can produce and deliver a vaccine (via their saliva) for West Nile Virus. The mosquitoes, Meier explains, will be sterilized to prevent any out-of-control problems. It’s a new twist on research being done elsewhere to breed sterile mosquitoes in malaria-infested areas.

Meier hopes to keep up with Provita’s research after he graduates, but "most of the hard work will stay in the high school," he says. That’s partially because the school has some control of Provita’s intellectual property since much of it was developed on campus (one huge benefit of that: the school district pays for all of Provita’s research).

In any case, says Meier, "it’s not like we’re out here to get a profit. We’re doing this because most of us want to start our own companies or go into research. We’re here as an educational experience."

Ariel Schwartz is a Senior Editor at Co.Exist. She has contributed to SF Weekly, Popular Science, Inhabitat, Greenbiz, NBC Bay Area, GOOD Magazine and more. For story ideas: ariel[at]fastcompany.com Continued

Add New Comment

7Comments

I agree with Laura. I might feel good about this article if we could assume that vaccines actual help. There is evidence that this is not really the case. In fact there is evidence that shows that vaccines have detrimental effects.

While I support children learning and the progress of helping people with diseases, I do not support the development of technology that limits the choices of others. Producing mosquitoes that inoculate people without their permission is a reduction in our freedom of choice. Use technology to find another way, and teach these children more about our constitutional rights to help guide their research.

Laura, that is not what public schools are about. Since the days of Dewey, the driiving goal of public educators has been to prepare the graduates (or droppouts) to live under communism. They, of course will vigorously deny this, but it is plainly eviident if you look at the whole picture. Under their values clarification program (which is really values destruction) constitutional riights are superseeded by the need of the many. This is also plainly evident in Ian's response. If you have kids, get them oout of public education and either into private schools or home-school them.

This article shows how investment (in this case private) in schools (also private, I think) can be a win-win for all invloved. Given the abysmal state of our schools in general and in urban & rural areas specically, and the nation's goals of promoting STEM education, I wish we'd see more instances of this kind of deep investment (and profit sharing!) between our public schools and industry

A series of articles by some of the world’s leading futurists about what the world will look like in the near and distant future, and how you can improve how you navigate future scenarios through better forecasting.